FirstCry, an e-commerce major in mother and child care, has reapplied its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The company plans to raise Rs 1,816 crore through the issuance of fresh shares. The DRHP states that part of the IPO will be by the offer-for-sale of 5.4 crore equity shares by the existing shareholders.
In its initial draft that it had filed last December, SEBI had raised concerns about key metrics of the startup that were not disclosed. Now, with the revised DRHP, FirstCry hopes to go ahead with the IPO plans.
Fresh issue funds would primarily be used for scaling up. This includes investments in its subsidiaries, opening of new modern stores under the brand name "BabyHug," and strengthening the warehouse infrastructure.
In the financial front, FirstCry reported a revenue of Rs 4,814 crore during the initial nine months of FY24 even as it posted a loss of Rs 278.2 crore, according to Inc42. Further, even before submitting the IPO draft, the startup is said to have reportedly sold 6.2 million shares in January.
FirstCry's story also has its lot of big-ticket transactions with investors. Reports indicate SoftBank, a big Japanese investment house, sold shares worth $310 million across two rounds of transactions.
Though FirstCry had clocked in Rs 5,632 crore from its operations in FY23, it piled losses up by a huge margin, from Rs 79 crore in FY22, to Rs 486 crore in FY23, and the journey ahead is one filled with challenges.
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